Meet Peggy

I was lucky to have made it to the Kinder Aggugini show this season in London. They had chosen a beautiful yet reduced venue, which was crammed. Luckily for me, I found a friend who couldn't make it to the show and I was happy again. Kinder is one of my favourite designers showing in London because I always love how he manages to create refined collections that still transpire his rebelliousness. For fw11 he said to be inspired by early 50's French fashion and Japanese designers of the 80's. As a result the collection made a point of juxtaposing from-hugging garments with sculptured jackets and coats, which created very interesting silhouettes. My favourite item was a cashmere mix coat dyed in a type of yellow degradé that seemed almost unfinished and had details, such as the gathered neck and the drawstring, which reminded me of sportswear or parkas.

As he did last season, Kinder commissioned hats from the genius Stephen Jones. This time they were sort of mini versions of top and fedora hats made of red, blue and green plastic and accompanied by veils. Once again, a great fusion of traditional and contemporary style (or "the fictitious marriage of Coco Chanel and Sid Vicious", as he described himself). There was also a rather elegant punk reference throughout most of the show, which, again, contrasted with the sparkly heels cuffed at the ankle that might have easily belonged to Dorothy.

I'm off.

[Pictures: soVIPzone, Style.com]

mal d'Afrique

Last night I was lucky enough to attend the SS11 Kinder Aggugini show. I first found out about him very randomly when his last summer collection came out and I was instantly attracted to his strong tailoring skills, his use of prints and his intelligent quirkiness. As I sat in the BFC show space of Somerset House going through the press release I became even more excited. The SS11 collection was announced to be inspired by 'Travels in the Interior Disctricts of Africa', the travel diary of a Scottish explorer, Mungo Park, in his journey through Africa. And Aggugini delivered. The first looks, three piece Saville Row linen looks gradually gave way to flashes of animal prints and eventually culminated in one-piece printed silk crepes. A representation of Mungo Park's journey from being a mere British colonialist to becoming part of Africa.

I particularly loved the black linen dresses with the degradé leopard details, the tiny blue cheetah prints, and the Stephen Jones hats made of cardboard and plastic but that suited the vibe of the collection completely and which looked surprisingly chic.
The music, a kind of rocky version of traditional African songs and the African inspired 'I want candy' version for the finale kept people moving to the beat and rounded up the best show I have seen at LFW so far.

To make the whole experience even more perfect, I got a third row seat by some very elegant Italian ladies (thank you to the Kinder Aguggini people!). As the show was about to start the ever magnificent Anna dello Russo walked in (cherry hair-do included) and so I made it my goal to run up to her at the end of the show and take a picture. This is the (blurry) result. What a perfect experience!

I'm off.

[Pictures: Style.com, my own]

Haute Couture Day 1

I don't remember getting this excited about Couture in a while, particularly about Galliano's work for Christian Dior. The truth is his last collection for the French staple was inspired and inspiring and took the so-called 'floral inspiration' to a whole new level. The models impersonated upside-down bunches of flowers with stem wrappers acting as hats (designed by Stephen Jones) and petals facing downwards as skirts. Regardless of the outstanding technical aspects (I loved all the ruching, specially on the nude dress) the best part of the collection were the colours. Tim Blanks, in his review for Style.com, points out how Galliano must've observed different kinds of flowers in different types of light to come up with the very precise colour palette. Personally, I found that the hues on the dresses took more from the captivating degradé of pansies than from any other flower. The bows at the waist and the petal-shaped bustiers culminated looks that, while staying true to the house's foundations and Galliano's signature looked glamourously avant-garde.

I'm off.

[Pictures: Style.com]

My Favourite Dress

It isn't something unusual to find a list of a blogger's favourite dresses every now and again —I have done it several times. However, it is not every day that the most prominent fashion big names open up about their preferences. In 'My Favourite Dress' 150 designers and fashion personalities look back at their trajectory to pick their favourite creation ever. If that weren't enough, the forewords by Suzie Menkes (personal Goddess) and Alexandra Shulman make this new book pretty much irresistible.I had the chance to have a look at the book and I have to admit I was impressed and surprised. I never imagined that certain fashion icons would choose such simple, old or new pieces. Anyone from Mary Quant to Stephen Jones and Christian Lacroix or Hamish Bowles describe as well why they love their picks, which makes you feel somewhat nostalgic and linked to them —I specially loved Gianfranco Ferré's, Hamish's and Donna Karan's selections (none of whom I was particularly fond of before the book). Hence, I am ordering my copy as a late Christmas present! Click here to get yours (UK click here).

I'm off.